Did the Sanford City Attorney just reprimand a City Commissioner for using the word "reprimand'?
How does that work?
A City Commissioner wanted the City Manager to "stop staring" at her. She used the word, "reprimand" in her discussion. She was using the term in a common English manner to express her strong disapproval of him. (Examples: He reprimanded me for talking too much. I reprimanded my dog for eating my hamburger.)
The City Attorney then jumped in and informed her and the Commission that she did not have the legal right to "reprimand" the City Manager. He later wrote a three page legal memorandum about the use of the word in a legal situation and recommended that the Commissioner's comments surrounding the use of the word be stricken from the minutes of the City commission meeting.
To calm the City Attorney down, change the word, "reprimand" to "admonish" in the minutes.
Later in the meeting, another Commissioner wanted to know whether she could say she wanted to criticize a City employee. The City Attorney said she could do that and if she wanted to, she could say she wanted to fire him, the City Attorney.
The really interesting question is whether a discussion can be stricken from the minutes of the City Commission just because someone doesn't think it is Ok to say it.
If the City goes along with the recommendation of the City Attorney this time, what is to prevent someone asking for something else be stricken from the record another time?
Picture this, a meeting in the future is so miserable that the Commission votes to have the entire meeting stricken from the record. No minutes needed, meeting never happened. Perfect.
